Last year I wrote an article on this subject which was published in the Spring 2021 issue of the SWCA Journal. I tried to put into a coherent story all of the information on the KCPD Pre-War .357 Magnums that was available in bits and pieces in earlier threads here on this Forum as well as contained in various publications. Also, with the help of Dr. Roy Jinks and some other SWCA members, I was able to uncover some new information not previously or generally known. For example, in rechecking the factory records, it was discovered that all 250 Magnums in the first order in 1939 were shipped with hump-back hammers. This post contains much of the information that is in the Journal article and is aimed primarily at those of you who have an interest in this subject but are not SWCA members……….
Lear B. Reed was the Chief of Police of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department (KCPD) from July 11, 1939, until September 30, 1941. He was the 24th police chief in Kansas City. The below press photo was taken of Chief Reed on his second day on the job, July 12, 1939.
Prior to his appointment as Chief he had been a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 14 years and was involved in a number of high profile cases. He was appointed as Chief to reorganize and modernize the KCPD which had been largely corrupted by the notorious Thomas J. Pendergast political machine. Since he had served as a member of the FBI Kansas City Division Office, Chief Reed had a working knowledge of the corruption in Kansas City at the time. Further details of his life before, during and after his tenure as Chief of the KCPD are provided in the October 2, 1972, Kansas City Star obituary shown below.
He also wrote a book entitled Human Wolves (cover pictured below) in which he told the story of rebuilding the KCPD and the return of law and order to the heart of America.
Under his tenure the KCPD was referred to as “The Little FBI” and he wore that label proudly. However, his primary link to this thread concerns the efforts he implemented to modernize the KCPD during his tenure as Chief. That included establishment of a crime laboratory, formalized police academy training, acquisition of modern radio equipment, redesigned uniforms and badges, and of course the item that most interests us S&W collectors - the implementation of a directive that the standard KCPD sidearm would be the S&W “.357” Magnum revolver. Pictured below are examples of the redesigned breast badge and hat shield instituted in 1939.
The order to S&W for the first 250 revolvers is dated July 26, 1939. As you can see, all 250 Magnums were ordered with Hump Back hammers.
On September 7, 1939, serial #59384, Registration #5008 (pictured below from my collection), along with 249 other “.357” Magnum revolvers, was shipped from the Smith & Wesson factory via Acme Fast Freight to Department of Police, Kansas City, Missouri, Attention: L. B. Reed, Chief of Police.
Per the below factory letter, these 250 revolvers were registration numbers 4987 to 5236 inclusive and were billed at $35.45 each for a total price of $8862.50. They were all in the same configuration with blue finish, 4” barrels, Baughman Quick Draw front sights on King ramp bases, square notch rear sights, hump-back hammers and Magna stocks. The revolvers were sighted in at 50 yards with .38 Special Mid Range Wad Cutter ammunition, and with 3½ lbs. trigger pull on single action and 10 lbs. pull on double action using a dead center hold.
Thus began the transition of the KCPD to be 100% equipped with the “.357” Magnums. After shipments to the KCPD of another 200 “.357” Magnums on January 30, 1940, and 26 “.357” Magnums on July 3, 1940, the transition was complete. A Smith & Wesson advertisement “FLASH” (pictured below) was issued at the time announcing “KANSAS CITY POLICE EQUIPPED 100% MAGNUM” and showing Chief Reed and other officers of the KCPD holding Magnums. It’s interesting to note that the “FLASH” pictures a 3.5” Magnum even though over 99% of the KCPD Magnums were 4”, and the picture shows Chief Reed holding a nickel plated Magnum even though his revolver, discussed below, was blue.
The Magnums in the latter two shipments were manufactured after the registration process ended at the S&W factory and thus were not assigned or marked with registration numbers. All but three Magnums in these later shipments were configured as described above (i.e. 4” barrels, blue, etc.) except that most were equipped with standard hammers instead of hump-back hammers. Two of the other three Magnums were shipped with 3.5” barrels and one was shipped with a 6.5” barrel. One of the 3.5” Magnums, serial #61633, was for the Chief and was engraved “L. B. Reed” on the side plate per the below advertising account invoice.
Its current whereabouts, as well as that of the 6.5” Magnum, is unknown to me. The other 3.5” Magnum, serial #61632, remains in excellent plus condition and sold at auction in September 2018 (pictured below). Based on its unusually high condition today it would seem that this 3.5” Magnum was probably also ordered for a high ranking official in the KCPD.
Photo credit Rock Island Auction
In the December, 1945, issue of The American Rifleman, Captain Byron Engle of the KCPD wrote an article entitled “The Law - and the Gun.” In the article he outlined the training methods used by the KCPD to obtain outstanding police handgun proficiency with the “.357” Magnums. Two of the pictures in the article demonstrating different shooting positions clearly show Captain Engle holding one of the S&W “.357” Magnums from the 1939/1940 shipments. In one picture demonstrating the combat-shooting position (pictured below), the hump-back hammer and the recessed Baughman Quick Draw front sight on the King Ramp base are clearly visible on the “.357” Magnum pictured.
The training started with the rules of safety and then moved to sighting instruction. There is a discussion of sighting charts, the sighting bar and triangulation. A significant amount of time was devoted to dry firing and slow fire where the student learned proper grip and stance, breathing, concentration, coordination and how to aim and squeeze. They also taught shooting at moving targets, shooting with either hand, from behind barricades, shooting from the hip and from prone positions. For qualification they used the FBI Practical Pistol Course because they thought it embodied the positions and types of shooting that would most likely be used in actual combat. The officers were required to fire the course three times on different days. Those who averaged a score of 90 or above were classified as Experts and awarded gold medals; those averaging 80 to 90 were classified as Sharpshooters and awarded silver medals (pictured below). (Note: the Expert medal displayed below which is in my collection, shows a date of 1935 on the qualification date bar, several years prior to the Magnums discussed in this article. The specific Expert medal design, like many other things in the Lear Reed era, may have been changed in 1939, and be different than displayed. On the other hand, the Sharpshooter medals displayed are definitely period correct to the Magnums in this article as evidenced by the dates on the qualification date bars.)
Those who fired from 60 to 80 were qualified as Marksmen but not awarded medals. Additional details of all of the above information can be found in the article written by Captain Engle. Also, information and pictures of the snap-on adjustable police holster that Captain Engle designed for the 4” Magnums (pictured below) is contained in a separate article in the same December, 1945, issue of The American Rifleman.
The 473 S&W “.357” Magnums with 4” barrels purchased in 1939/1940 were issued and in service with the KCPD through the 1940’s and well into the 1950’s. Most examples that have surfaced in the collector community today show wear consistent with this extensive 15+ year period of police service. The KCPD had an in-house Gun Room and armorer that refinished and reworked the Magnums as necessary. The KCPD 1947 Annual Report (cover and applicable page pictured below) stated that 8 to 10 guns were re-blued every month and 2 to 3 guns were rebuilt daily.
Photo Credits - kwill1911
Many Magnums were also returned to the factory - some on several occasions - as is evidenced by the examples showing multiple factory refinish/rework marks.
In 1957 the KCPD replaced the Magnums with the S&W 4” Heavy Barrel K-38’s and disposed of the Magnums; shortly thereafter Klein’s Sporting Goods of Chicago, Illinois, ran sales advertisements (example pictured below) for the used Magnums in several issues of The American Rifleman.

The ads described the Magnums with “4 (-inch) Barrel, Blued, Magna Walnut Checkered Grips, Baughman Quick Draw front sight on King Ramp, Matted top strap, recessed cylinder head” and concentric cuts on sides of hammer. One ad even mentioned that “All are specially registered…” which was apparently in reference to the 250 .357 Magnums with registration numbers 4987 to 5236 that were in the September 7, 1939, shipment. Although not listed in the wording, the revolver depicted in some of the ads clearly showed the hump-back hammer of those in the September 7, 1939, shipment as can be seen in the above picture. Prices ranged from $59.95 to $69.95 depending on condition - note this price in 1957 for used Magnums versus the $35.45 price originally paid for new Magnums by the KCPD in 1939. Apparently the S&W Registered and Non-Registered “.357” Magnums used by the KCPD had already started to become collectible items over 60 years ago!
As mentioned above, most examples of the KCPD Registered and Non-Registered “.357” Magnums encountered today show extensive usage, have been refinished one or more times (by either the S&W factory, KCPD armorer, or other entity) and have replaced/mis-matched grips. In the article I wrote for the SWCA Journal I also included the data from the thread
KCPD Pre-War .357 Magnums Purchased During 1939/1940 (Finish Condition - A Survey) that I am running on this Forum. As of 9/1/2024 I have discovered 78 of the 476 KCPD Magnums, many of them pictured in the survey thread. Of those 78 Magnums, 71 (91.0%) have been refinished and 7 (9.0%) still retain original factory finish (2 of the 7 with original factory finish also retain the original Magna stocks numbered to the gun - they are the 2 Magnums pictured above in this thread.)
The KCPD Pre-War “.357” Magnums were in service during a very turbulent time in Kansas City, especially early on. Although most examples encountered today are not among the highest condition Pre-War Magnums found, they certainly are among the most historic. Unfortunately the serial number issue records of these guns were purged by the KCPD after the period of service and so tracing individual LEO usage of specific guns is nearly impossible. However most caretakers of these Magnums treasure them for the history they represent, and as an added benefit, they can show them off and enjoy them at the firing range! Based on my numbers presented in my survey thread there must be many more of them still out there to be discovered, so keep your eyes open!